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Commentary Search

  • When asked ‘Are you religious?’

    Instantly I am on guard. In front of the rest of the wedding party at my best friend’s weeklong celebration, I am asked this question.“Are you religious?”If I say yes, I feel like I would be stereotyped as the morality police, whacking people each time they take a sip from their coozy. If I say no,

  • How cooking spaghetti became part of my leadership philosophy

    Part of coming into command is developing your leadership philosophy. I wanted mine to incorporate the wisdom I had gleaned from mentors and past experiences. I also wanted the concept to be something memorable, like the “Six Sides of the Dice” philosophy by Lt. Gen. Robert Allardice, a previous Air

  • Shaw Weasel role in close air support

    During a recent informal poll around the 20th Fighter Wing, I found roughly 77 percent of Shaw Airmen know and generally understand the primary mission of the 20th FW.   We are the nation's premier suppression of enemy air defenses wing with three fighter squadrons and 77 F-16CM Fighting Falcons

  • Courage to speak

    Imagine instead of living in present day, you are alive in United Colonies around the summer of 1776. The northern colonies are already at war and news spreads that the King is going to send reinforcements to quell the uprisings.

  • Reintegration from start to finish

    After a lot of self-reflection, I realized I got this wrong. Several deployments, throw in a couple of remote assignments, I still got it wrong. I thought we were prepared; “the family is used to it, right? They have done it all before, it will be over before we know it. We got this!”  These were

  • Equal opportunity readiness

    As EO professionals (which includes officer, enlisted and civilian personnel) we are charged with monitoring the base human relations climate. EO uses the two primary methods to measure the climate, via the Defense Equal Opportunity Climate Survey and the “Out and About” program.

  • Self-reflection: critical ingredient for leadership growth

    Recently, Lt. Col. Kevin “HOBS” Crofton, 55th Fighter Squadron commander, wrote a commentary on excellence not being an act. At the end of that commentary, he asked us to reflect on some questions. His words made me ponder if I placed enough time in my life to reflect on daily activities; did I use

  • What does something missed cost?

    Remember, when something is overlooked or missed there is always a cost involved. Consider how your actions can cost others, and organizations, as a whole, and by all means don’t forget to pick up the milk.

  • How much do I care

    Leadership expert, John Maxwell said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Gen. Collin Powell said it this way, “People don't give two cents about what we think we know or who we think we are if they perceive we don't care about them (perception is their